Journey vs. Destination

Last year, I gave my brother a bunch of books for the holidays. He professed to enjoying receiving them all. He hasn’t said which ones he liked reading. But, as a I said last year, we aren’t great communicators.

I also suspect he most liked me setting up his email even more: a “friend” had previously set up his email and it intentionally misspelled my brother’s last name. I, of course, sent the gifts to the correctly spelled name, my head being unable to cope with that sort of breakage. Anyway, I made a corrected email address and then forward the old account to the new one and sent him all the passwords (which he expected me to remember this year, hah!).

When I called to ask for his daughter’s addresses, we chatted for a few minutes. He said he’s reading a lot these days and would love more books, especially science fiction. I got excited, exclaiming I have the perfect gift. Sadly, he’s already read Andy Weir’s The Martian– three times! At least I know I’m on the right track.

I made a new list, partially from the ones last year that I’d forgotten or fell off my list. So far I’ve already bought

• Neil Gaimen’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I asked Chris where he thought someone should start with Neil Gaimen and he thought maybe American Gods and I thought maybe The Graveyard Book thought that is young adult. But when I thought about about really-good-books without taking into about the author, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is higher in my personal ranking.
• Ernest Clines’ Ready Player One. As soon as my brother said The Martian, I thought about Ready Player One. I don’t know why they are linked to me, maybe because I wish I’d written these books. No, not because they are popular but because they are deeply harmonic with the noise in my head.
• Keeping with fiction, I went ahead with Ender’s Game. In Amazon, it is filed under “Classic Science Fiction” which where it belongs. The movie was not as good as the book (in large part because you couldn’t get a kid as young as in the book). I don’t necessarily like Orson Scott Card and I think the Ender books went on for much too long. But this is a great book and it was on sale.
• Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy. Chris introduced me to this fantasy trilogy. Sanderson is so prolific, it can be tough to figure out where to start. This trilogy is fairly well encapsulated and a lot of fun. I have only dipped my toe in his other work though Chris gets lost in it.
• Matthieu Ricard’s Happiness. Written by a molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk, I suspect my brother will like this book more than I did. I quite enjoyed the first 25% and then it lost me a bit in the deeper areas of Buddhism. I’m fully willing to believe (and practice) that happiness is a skill that requires practice and attention. However, I’m a product of Western education, the eradication of self is inexplicable to me unless he means balancing the System 2’s lies to cover System 1’s laziness (from Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow). That makes sense to me but I’m not sure that’s… Anyway, my brother mentioned an interest in Buddhism and Happiness is the obvious book for him if not for me.
• Randall Munroe’s What If? Ahh, come on, we all read the wonderful XKCD webcomic with its mix of absurdity, love, and science. And I read the What If? blog with great enjoyment. I suspect my science-loving brother will love this though I worry that he may not be familiar with Munroe’s other work. I wonder if that will decrease his overall enjoyment, I hope not.
• Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half. Last year, I got the hardcopy of this for several people. My brother-in-law never laughs aloud and he giggled through it. A visiting friend seemed a bit depressed (in part because he was visiting over Christmas to meet stupid work deadlines and because his cat had recently passed away) and we put this in his stocking, getting a few giggles from him as well. It is a great book that covers some fairly deep territory with panache (and humor). I recommend it to everyone. Though I’m concerned about the color images on a kindle (my brother said he had a color screen, I hope it all works out).

I started working on this list last week, making an Amazon gift list so I could pile ideas together. Strangely, this shows me just how much the prices fluctuate. Both What If? and Hyperbole and a Half were discounted 30% when I went to look today (and add another book I was thinking of). Now, I’ve decided to go ahead and leave the list a little broad, maybe a few more things will go on sale, helping me decide what else to get my brother. Some of my other ideas:

• In the popular science category, I have: Ken Jenning’s Maphead about incredibly interesting subject of geography (yeah, I didn’t think it was possible either), Sam Kean’s The Violinist’s Thumb about genetics (and history of discover), Micheal Pollan’s The Botany of Desire about plants mating habits and how they’ve trained humans to care for them, and James Pennebaker’s The Secret Life of Pronouns about the wonderful world of words and the psychology of interpreting what someone means. Vladimir Dinet’s Dragon Songs about crocodilian (and Russian) mating habits almost makes the list but I think that was because I listened to part of it which set the voice in my head better than the writing did.
• In science fiction, I have Douglas Adam’s The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which contains all five books. I should just buy this one. It is a little pricier than the cheap ones but, gosh, at a per-word price it is improbably cheap. Heck, I should get it for myself, it is time for re-read of these, they make me happy. Talking about a good value even at full price, my list also has Neal Stephenson’s Reamde. What a romp! But my brother isn’t into computers so the attention to detail may be lost on him (and I already got Ready Player One which is somewhat similar).
• In fantasy (I don’t normally separate sci-fi and fantasy, any advanced technology looking like magic and whatnot, but that previous bullet was getting pretty long. To keep this short, I’ll just put up some books.
• Last year’s gifts had a lot of urban fantasy so this year, I tried to be shorter in that. I liked Mur Lafferty’s The Shambling Guide to New York City (and the New Orleans sequel). For all that these are full of dead things, it is a more character driven book than some of the others on the list. Other urban fantasy and some pithiness:
  • The Atrocity Archives (wow, that’s a depressing book to give for Christmas)
  • The Wrong Goodbye (this was good, why haven’t I read the sequels yet?)
  • American Gods (see previous musings about Neal Gaiman (jeez, is Good Omens a better choice?))
  • Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) (I like urban fantasy, ok?)
• Back to science fiction or fantasy or whatever
  • Jumper (I love Gould… though I started with Wildside so maybe that is better. But Exo came out this year (Jumper #4) and so this is better path)
  • The Curse of Chalion (Where to start with Bujold? Vorkosigan is awesome but this is standalone. And awesome. But on the pricey side)
  • The Three-Body Problem (I am so looking forward to reading this book myself! I have such high hopes. This may be an example of giving a gift to someone else and hoping they don’t like it and give it back.)
  • Boneshaker (I remain a sucker for Steampunk.)
• Last (but not least), I really enjoyed the The Best of Instructables. I seldom go to the website (being ad-phobic) and having them in a book has been awesome for inspiration and general interest. But I’m not sure about Kindle. I’d consider sending him Make Magazine but I’m not sure he’d be into that.

Having learned the price fluctuations in ebooks, I’ll watch them for a day or two and sort out what else to get my brother. Though if I was in charge of making profits at Amazon, now that the shipping window is nearly closed, it would make sense to push the prices of all electronic items up a bit for those last-minute shoppers.

What did I miss? Any books you especially enjoyed this year?

I had this idea for a way to revolutionize the gift card market, at least for digital media services like Amazon’s ebook or Apple’s iTune. Here is how it would work:

1. I’d buy a bunch of items that I didn’t really care if the receiver wanted but I liked for some reason. (For example, spend $50 buying songs with the word “bride” or “wedding” in the title for a wedding present. Or buying songs that spelled out the receiver’s name when put together. Or purchasing a bunch of gag books related to some in-joke I had with the receiver.)

2. The giftee would get the option to accept any (or all) of the items. The ones unaccepted would become a gift card so the recipient could spend the money however they wanted.

Thus, I could spend some time and thought on a gift but the recipient could get something they actually wanted. Win all around.

Happily, while Amazon doesn’t exactly have this, they have something close. I send gift ebook (or MP3s) and the recipient can opt for cash (well, credit) instead.

It has a few downsides but let me change the subject for a bit.

My brother and I aren’t close. I’m a little sad about that but it has always been true. Our mom used to keep us connected but since she passed away a few years ago, we have to work to talk to each other.

I don’t really know what his life is like other than very different than mine. He says he’s happy. He said he liked it when I sent him steaks (and when I sent him towels but not when I sent him cash).

When he visited once and had dinner, he’d read about ShotSpotter and wanted to talk about the math and physics. I think he reads a lot but I’m not sure. I know he has my mom’s old kindle (3G) but not if he used it.  It is weird, not having a clue what he’d honestly need or want.

When I found that he could trade in books for amazon cash, well, it seemed like a good way to give him something useful and spend sometime communicating that, even though I don’t communicate well with him, I do love him.

Here are the books I sent him, along with some reasoning as to why.

• When my brother was a teenager, he read Steven R. Boyett’s Ariel. It was a dystopian urban fantasy book, published in 1983, about thirty years before the rest of the urban fantasy. (Ok, there was Charles de Lint which is all lyrical but not dystopian, not very gritty.) My brother loved the Ariel book. Also, when I finally got to read it, I loved the book.  A year or two ago, I found Boyett’s Elegy Beach, published in 2009, written so about the same amount of time had passed in the universe. I didn’t re-read Ariel, too afraid it might not hold up. But I liked the new one. It wasn’t great but I wanted to share it with my brother. Maybe it formed the kernel of this gifting idea.
• Next on the list is the non-fiction Thinking, Fast and Slow. This book is about how your brain works and how to use cognitive psych for fun and profit. It is the best $3 you can spend. I felt like sending it to everyone I know even though few people will make it past the 10% mark. It is not a difficult read but really, really long. I want to read it again but am intimidated as it took months and months to pour thought last time.
• Since my brother seems to like science, I put in one of my favorite science books of the year: Kraken : The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. Anything that made me really think about cephalopod intelligence and how aliens may think entirely different than we do… well, I had many lovely daydreams, expanding my ideas. This is an easy read, semi-autobiographical in addition to pop science fun.
• Next, more fantasy. I got the evil Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One. I love this book and its sequel. And, like so many others, I crave the final book in the trilogy. (The wait is why Rothfuss is evil. Once he gives me the next (and better be final) book, all will be well.) The writing and the story are both exceedingly addictive.
• I got him The Serpent and the Rainbow. Of all the books on the list, this is the one I wonder if he’s already read. Maybe. And if he hasn’t, will he think I’m attempting to be hip? Ahh, well, it has been sent so I needn’t worry further.
• Next, more fiction, specifically urban fantasy, I got Jim Butcher’s Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1). I like Dresden a lot, he’s a wizard in modern day Chicago. He is made up of the hard sort of heroism of Dick Francis’ jockeys in a wonderful, complicated world.
• Though I agonized a bit over the overlap (and inevitable) comparison, I also got Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel. It is also urban fantasy, also a hard sort of heroism (though with a heroine this time). These are both the start of their long-ish series. If you asked which series I most want the next installment of, it would be… Rothfuss, damn him. After that, I’d say October Daye even though my husband has only read (and very much enjoyed) Dresden.
• Back to non-fiction, the next book for my brother is Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker’s War 1941-45. I want him to understand my love of code, puzzles, and spies. This book has all that and is fun to read… both times I’ve read it. It is another big one but a neat combination of history, autobiography, and cryptography basics.
• I hope he likes science as much as he’s said. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters is written by Matt Ridley who has written other genomics books that I’ve really enjoyed, he’s a good storyteller. I plan to look for this one for myself soon too.
• Since I sent so much urban fantasy, I wanted to balance it out with some proper science fiction so Scalzi’s Old Man’s War was next in the list. I like this series very much. The writing is witty and the stories are tightly plotted. Sometimes a little preachy with its politics, this book remains engaging and interesting.
• Finally, I got him Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. I recently started reading this book (and am enjoying it). It gets great ratings and I sort of hope it will help us talk to each other. Plus, on sale for $3 so, win!

So, 11 books, trade-able for about $75 worth of Amazon dollars. The main downside is that he has to trade each one separately instead of getting a list. For $75 worth of $1 songs, this would be cruel. Anyway, I hope he enjoys the books. I sure had a good time picking them out.

Ahh, and the ones I thought about sending but didn’t make the cut? There were a few:

• Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened: I didn’t know if he had a new Kindle or my mom’s old B&W… turns out he had a Kindle Fire until last week when someone stole it; he’s planning to get another. This one will go on the b’day list for him. And pretty much everyone else I don’t give it to for Christmas.
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World: I can’t believe I forgot about this until I saw it in the used bookstore! I’d have sent it instead of Genomics, I think.
• The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: When going for classic sci-fi how could I pass this up? Still, I managed to, though it is a good price for all the Adams’ Hitchhiker books.
• Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century): Don’t get me sidetracked into steampunk, I could get lost for days.
• Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga): Where to start Vorkosigan? Young Miles didn’t come as an ebook set. I got frustrated trying to find an “in” and gave up, though I love the series. And I did start with Shards of Honor.
• Jumper: I love Steven Gould, maybe this will make the cut next time. But it is a little older and if he has been reading sci-fi, he’s probably already seen it.

So what else did I miss? What other sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, science, history books do you get for someone you really should know well. I mean, did he read Harry Potter? Would he think those were good or childish? Would I really inflict the endless days of camping on anyone I care about?